Thursday

I seem to have so many Sunflowers growing in my yard this summer thanks to all the birds. They really brighten up the area.

Our neighboring farmers have so much corn planted, and despite the lack of rain this particular field seems to be doing well.

On Lake Erie last week, I really like this peaceful scene.

In the same area, I came upon this flock of young Mallards. They were super friendly and of course as soon as they saw me, began to beg for food. I always carry a bag of bread in the van just for these occasions.

I took lots of pictures, and will post more in the coming days.

Back at home I have frozen up 13 quarts of Blueberries so far. I'm hoping to get more too.

Can you believe it the temps were cooler today, and the Dew pt. much lower. There is possibly rain coming tonight! :~)

Ruby Tuesday

I saw these berries on my creek walk today and they are so bright. They're called Nightshade, and are a member of the tomato family although I wouldn't recommend eating them. They are about the size of small kidney beans and are poisonous. In the summer before the berries are the most beautiful purple flowers.

Happy Ruby Tuesday and thanks to Mary/the teach for this meme. Click on http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com to see more RED.

Here, There and Everywhere

With all the heavy fog and dew lately it's a good time to look for spider webs. We took a ride to see the Steel Head Trout run. The stream was full of 100's of these fish. In this shot you can see one of the fish jump the falls. No fishermen on this day though. The waves in the lake were too high and the wind was really strong. This stream is off limits to fisher people as it is a nursery stream.

A small flock of Canada geese came fairly close, and I found one that is a cross between a Canada and a domestic goose.

This is one of the black Squirrels that live in Westfield, New York. There are lots of them and they are fairly large and well fed.

Down by the lake a huge flock of Gulls swarm around a person throwing crackers to them.

It's Concord grape season around here, and you should smell the air! It's heavenly..

The Hydrangea trees are in full bloom. They make such gorgeous dried flowers. I like to take a drive by this cemetery where they are, when they fall off the tree and gather up a few for decorations.

And there are some ever bearing red raspberries ripe. Lots more berries are coming on IF we don't get a killing frost.

It's been a really cold and gloomy today. The temperature this morning was 37 deg. About normal for this time of year I guess. Tomorrow more rain in store. The rain is taking down some of the pretty leaves, and I hope by the time the sun does shine again, there are some of them left to photograph.

Macro Monday

On our trails are many of these tree/shrubs with blue berries. I love the color of them and I have no idea what they are. The birds don't seem to eat them, and they are white to begin with, and about the size of a pea. Hopefully somebody will help me ID them.
happy Macro Monday, and click on http://lisaschaos.com/ to see lots more closeups.

Ruby Tuesday

Happy Ruby Tuesday everyone. These are the berries from a wild Honeysuckle bush. I'm not sure and there are so many kinds, but it is similar to the Tartarian Honeysuckle. I don't think the birds like the berries either.
Click on over to Mary/the teach' site Here to see more RED.

Ruby Tuesday

These are the berries of the Asparagus plant. If you don't pick Asparagus it will form these dainty "ferns" to which grows these tiny berries. They are the size of small peas.
Thanks so much to mary/the teach. She keeps this meme going. Click on her site http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com to view lots more REDS.

Slow Walk

It was a cool, wet, and windy day here on Saturday. In the afternoon we took a slow walk around the perimeter of our property. There is so much more to see if you don't hurry. Not many birds around, and we didn't see any ducks or other wildlife except Azrael of course.
On a fallen branch is this neat lichen. I think these are Spiny Puffballs. I have a book on Mushrooms, but my word there are so many. These are growing under one of the Blue Spruce trees.

This pine cone has yet to open. You can tell we have no squirrels around because we have loads of pine cones still on the trees.

Red berries from the Hawthorne tree.

More red berries and this time they grow on the weedy Nightshade, Solanum dulcamara, which the book says is actually a member of the potato family. You learn something new every day!

A couple more pine cones still in the tree and unopened.

More lichen on a fallen tree branch. We've had plenty of rain, and you can find these everywhere. I have more to post tomorrow. I didn't realize how beautiful they really are until you view them up close.

Water droplets on a blade of grass.

Gary calls this Bird Lunch. We still have some of the red Delicious apples in the tree , and the birds love them.

That's all for today folks. The weather is deteriorating, and has dropped 4º in the past hour from 42º to 38º. The weather people say snow and possibly lake effect snow coming our way. We live smack dab in the middle of the snow belt off Lake Erie, so we can always expect something. Have a wonderful day, and do keep your camera handy...

Good Morning! It's really a yucky start to the day, but promises to get better. Right now it is pouring, BUT it could be the white stuff! We have another whirlwind day. We leave here in 2 hours to go pick up the goats, and the remaining 3-4 chickens. It shouldn't take too long, but with this weather you never know.
On my creek walk yesterday I found these ever bearing red Raspberries at the back of our yard still producing. There are plenty of unripe ones left and they usually get frozen before they're ready to eat. These are the leaves of a pink Azalea.

The creek trail is covered with dried leaves making the walk quite crunchy sounding. It's difficult to sneak up on an unsuspecting animal now. And don't you just LOVE the nutty smell of the woods at this time of year.

A Sycamore leaf lazily bobbing atop the water on it's journey down French creek and eventually to the Mississippi River.

Another of my "new" chickens. She is a Polish hen, and as of today I don't have a name for her yet. Any suggestions?

I always try to name all my animals. Don't ya love that goofy top knot? I don't know if you can see it, but there are a couple black feathers in the front.

On our trip into town yesterday we saw this Halloween display. This is in the rear of a very old brick building in the original part of town. I think there are some apartments back here, but I wasn't aware anyone lived it them. While we were there an old Chevy El Camino pulled in just loaded with potted Mums. I wonder where there is room for anything else? ? Well, I must get going. Lots to do. Have a wonderful day, stay dry and warm, and try to take at least one photo.

Happy Thursday everybody.